As he does, he frowns a little. “Where did you get this? I never made this syllabus. It’s completely ridiculous. Is this what you’ve been following when you study?”
When I nod, he chuckles a little, but his voice sounds strained. “No matter you’re terrible in class. I have no idea who came up with this.”
The hair on the back of my neck springs to attention. If it’s not a real syllabus and Professor Thiel hasn’t ever seen it before, then someone had to put it in my notebook when I wasn’t paying attention. There’s a fairly short list of people who I think would do this.
Probably the same person who came into my room. Who let people in to stomp around in shit-covered boots. Alice.
She’s not in this class with us, but I have no doubt that she made a bogus syllabus and put it into my notebook. It doesn’t even cross my mind that it could be anybody else. When Professor Thiel hands me my notebook, I take it, but I don’t take my eyes from his face.
“What are we going to do about this? It’s obvious that someone is trying to get me in trouble, isn’t it?”
Any compassion that I had seen in his face is gone, and he frowns at me. “Is it obvious? You’re a bit paranoid, Abigail. As for what we’re going to do, I’ll get you a copy of my real syllabus, but you have a test to take. It’s not my fault that it took you this long to realize that something was wrong.”
“Are you serious right now? That’s insane.” The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them, but I realize immediately that I’ve made a huge mistake. Professor Thiel slowly turns to look at me. The rest of the class is all staring, but over his shoulder I can see Quinn grinning at me.
“The headmaster, Abigail. Now.” He looks more serious than I’ve seen before, so I know that this isn’t a joke to him, but I honestly can’t believe that he’d send me to the headmaster for something like this.
“I didn’t do anything wrong.” Even as I talk, I stand up. I know that I’ve lost this one, and the best thing for me right now is just to do what he’s telling me to, even though I hate it.
“Quinn, please escort Abigail here to the headmaster’s office for me. Make sure that she comes back when she’s finished, okay?” Professor Thiel has turned away from me and is talking about me like I’m not even in the room. I feel a flush of anger, but it quickly disappears when I see the look on Quinn’s face.
“With pleasure, sir.” He walks up to me and grabs me by the elbow, forcing me out from behind my desk and pulling me along with him to the door. As soon as we’re out in the hall and the door is shut behind us, he lets me go but keeps walking. “Hurry up, Abigail. He’ll have called the headmaster by now, and you don’t want to keep him waiting.”
My body is screaming for me to turn and run in the other direction, but I hurry after Quinn. We make a series of turns without speaking but, before long, are in front of the headmaster’s office. Quinn sprawls in a chair in the hall and points at the door. “Go. Get.”
I nod at him and slowly open the door, peeking my head in. This is the first time I’ve been here and I’m honestly not sure what to expect. From what other people have said, the headmaster is a bit of a hardass. Searching my memory for his name, I let out a sigh of relief when my eyes fall on the nameplate on his desk.
“Mr. Britton. Hi, I’m – ”
“Abigail. I know who you are. Come in and shut the door.” He doesn’t get up from his desk while he waits for me to come in, but I can easily see that he’s in great shape. In fact, he looks positively out of place when compared to the rest of the staff, who all tend to be a bit more academic.
He’s younger than I would have thought, with dark hair and eyes. As he watches me, he leans forward, resting his elbows on his desk. I settle into the dark blue chair across from him and wait.
And wait.
At first, I assume that he’s going to speak, but when a few minutes have passed and neither one of us have said anything, I start to feel uncomfortable. Clearing my throat, I decide to start, but he cuts me off.
“Professor Thiel tells me that you caused a scene in his class.” When I sit up to interrupt, he holds up his hand, silencing me. “You and I both know that we took a risk allowing you to come to Trinity Prep. We don’t normally take students after they’ve started high school at another institution because we feel that their minds will already be formed in a way that we may not like. In fact, we can see evidence of that here, with you.”
What the fuck?
He pauses and I speak up. “I’m sorry for the misunderstanding, Mr. Britton. It’s just that I had an incorrect syllabus for class and so I was unprepared. I don’t know how I got it, but – ”
“Before you even think about throwing another student under the bus on this one, I want you to stop and decide if that’s something you really want to do.” His voice is serious and I pause, thinking about what he said. “We want the students at Trinity Prep to handle any problems that arise between themselves, without involving the teachers or staff. Over time, we have found that this is the best way to ensure that problems are addressed quickly, and it also ensures that the students who don’t really deserve to be here don’t stay
